Students wishing to pursue a concentration in creative writing should bear in mind that four years of study at the undergraduate level is the beginning of a long apprenticeship; there is little profit in believing that one “discovers one’s voice” in the course of a few years of study, or, indeed, that such a discovery, a narrowing to a singularity, is ever to be desired. Diversity and experimentation are crucial throughout a writer’s career and perhaps at no time more important than in the initial stages of exploration and the acquisition of skills. Students are encouraged, therefore, to take workshops in both poetry and fiction, to take literature courses from various centuries and continents, and to take a wide variety of supplementary courses in English. The Creative Writing model, when sufficiently diverse, is adequate preparation for admission to graduate writing programs.
Category I: At least two, but not more than six, upper-division creative writing workshops. Students are encouraged to take one workshop in an alternate genre:
- CRW 3310 Adv. Sem: Poetry
- CRW 4906 Senior Adv. Workshop in Poetry
- CRW 3110 Adv. Seminar in Fiction Writing
- CRW 4905 Senior Adv. Workshop in Fiction
Category II: One course from two of three subcategories:
The Bible:
- LIT 3374 The Bible as Literature
Before 1600:
- ENL 3210 Medieval English Lit.
- ENL 4220 Ren Lit. 16th Century
- ENL 4311 Chaucer
From 1600 to 1800:
- AML 4213 Am Col-Fed Period
- ENL 3112 Eng Novel: 18th-C
- ENL 3230 Age of Dryden/Pope
- ENL 3234 The Long 18th Century: Themes and Interpretation
- ENL 3235 The Long 18th Century: Imaginative Genres
- ENL 3350 Age of Johnson
- ENL 4221 Ren Lit: 17th-C
- ENL 4333 Shakespeare
Category III: One course from each subcategory:
19th century:
- AML 3031 Am Literature I
- AML 3605 African-Am Lit II
- AML 4225 19th-C Am Lit/Cult
- AML 4311 Major Fig. of Am. Lit
- ENG 4953 Dept Seminar
- ENL 3122 Eng Novel: 19th C
- ENL 3240 Romantic Period
- ENL 3251 Victorian Lit
- LIT 4930 Special Topics
20th century:
- AML 3041 Am Literatures II
- AML 3607 African-Am Lit. II
- AML 3284 Am Women’s Lit.
- AML 3285 Am. Lit.
- AML 4170 Am. Lit Forms
- AML 4242 20th-C Am Lit/Cult.
- AML 4282 Genders & Sexualities in Am Lit/Culture
- AML 4311 Maj Fig in Am. Lit
- AML 4453 Am. Lit/Culture
- AML 4685 Race & Ethnicity
- ENG 4953 Senior Seminar
- ENL 3132 Eng Novel: 20th-C
- ENL 3154 20th-C Brit Poetry
- ENL 4273 20th-C British Lit
- LIT 4930 Special Topics
Choose remaining electives from Categories II–V
Category IV. Literature, General
- AML 4685 Ethnic Literature
- LIT 3003 Forms of Narrative
- LIT 3041 Studies in Drama
- LIT 3173 Jewish Literature
- LIT 3362 Age of Avant-Garde
- LIT 4194 Afr Lit. in English
- LIT 4322 The Folktale
- LIT 4331 Children’s Lit
Category V. Theory
- ENG 3010 Modern Criticism
- ENG 3011 Major Theorists
- ENG 4060 Hist of Eng Lang
Faculty
Department of English faculty who regularly teach courses in this model include:
- Uwem Akpan – Creative Writing (Fiction)
- Camille Bordas – Creative Writing (Fiction)
- Michael Hofmann – Creative Writing (Poetry)
- David Leavitt – Creative Writing (Fiction)
- William Logan – Creative Writing (Poetry)
- Ange Mlinko – Creative Writing (Poetry)